Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located on Mason Neck, Virginia, adjacent to Mason Neck State Park and along Belmont Bay. Established in 1969 under the protection of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, it was the first federal refuge established specifically for the protection of the bald eagle, and is currently part of the Potomac River National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The refuge is 2,277 acres (9.21 km2) in size, with 4.4 miles (7.1 km) of shoreline, and contains much oak and hickory forest. It also holds the largest freshwater marsh in northern Virginia.
Since its founding, the refuge has been renamed for Elizabeth Hartwell, a local activist who fought to keep Mason Neck free of development.
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Boardwalk in Mason Neck
Famous quotes containing the words neck, national, wildlife and/or refuge:
“Girls blush, sometimes, because they are alive,
Half wishing they were dead to save the shame.
The sudden blush devours them, neck and brow;
They have drawn too near the fire of life, like gnats,
And flare up bodily, wings and all. What then?
Who’s sorry for a gnat ... or girl?”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)
“I came here for one thing only, to try to help national Ireland—and if there is no such thing in existence then the sooner I pay for my illusions the better.”
—Roger Casement (1864–1916)
“Russian forests crash down under the axe, billions of trees are dying, the habitations of animals and birds are layed waste, rivers grow shallow and dry up, marvelous landscapes are disappearing forever.... Man is endowed with creativity in order to multiply that which has been given him; he has not created, but destroyed. There are fewer and fewer forests, rivers are drying up, wildlife has become extinct, the climate is ruined, and the earth is becoming ever poorer and uglier.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“The great advantage of a hotel is that it’s a refuge from home life.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)